Wrapper feed device for packing machines



Oct. 12, 1965 A. scHMERMuND WRAPPER FEED DEVICE FOR PACKING MACHINES med April 28, 1964 9 Sheets-Sheet 1 mok M! NR QR MS Se Attorneys Oct. 12, 1965 A. scHMERMUND 3,210,911

WRAPPER FEED DEVICE FOR PACKING MACHINES Filed April 28, 1964 9 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 3

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Det. 12, 1965 A. scHMERMUND 3,210,911

WRAPPEE FEED DEVICE Fon PACKING MACHINES Filed April 28, 1964 9 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig. 5

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WRAPPER FEED DEVICE FOR PACKING MACHINES Filed April 28, 1964 9 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig. 6

Oct. l2, 1965 A. scHMERMuND 3,210,911

WRAPPER FEED DEVICE FOR PACKING MACHINES Filed April 2s, 1964 9 sheets-sheet 5 Inventor fnl gif! mel-mm1 A Harney Oct. 12, 1965 A. scHMERMUND WRAPPER .FEED DEVICE FOR PACKING MACHINES Filed April 28, 1964 9 Sheets-Sheet 6 Alfved, chmwmmol By NM NM Attorney 0ct. 12, 1965 A. scHMERMuND WRAPPER FEED DEVICE FOR PACKING MACHINES Filed April 28, 1964 9 Sheets-Sheet '7 Inventor By NYQUL Nm A ttorney Oct. 12, 1965 A. scHMERMUND 3,210,911

WRAPPER FEED DEVICE FOR PACKING MACHINES Filed April 28, 1964 9 Sheets-Sheet 8 Attorney Oct. 12, 1965 A. SCHMERMUND 3,210,911

WRAPPER FEED DEVICE FOR PACKING MACHINES Filed April 28, 1964 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 Inventor Attorney United States Patent 3,210,911 WRAPPER FEED DEVICE FOR PACKING MACHINES Alfred Schmermund, 62 Kornerstrasse, Gevelsberg, Westphalia, Germany Filed Apr. 28, 1964, Sei'. No. 363,229 Claims priority, application Germany, Nov. 24, 1960, Sch 28,826 9 Claims. (Cl. 53-389) The invention relates to packing machines and is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 153,905, filed Nov. 21, 1961, now abandoned.

While .the term packing as used herein is intended to cover the application of a wrapping sheet to an article 4it is not intended that the term should be so limited, the term packing being also intended to cover lfor example the application of a label or the like to an article. u

The output which can be obtained from known packing machines, for example cigarette packing machine, is limited by the speed at which wrapping sheets or labels can be fed for application to articles being packed. Known devices for feeding material such as wrapping sheets or labels from supply stacks thereof can not however be lreliably loperated at speeds suited to achievable packing speeds.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a packing machine comprising means for feeding articles to be packed, in constant succession, along a feed path, at least two `devices being allocated to the feed path for feeding wrapping sheets, labels, or the like thereto for application to the ar-ticles, each device being adapted to draw the wrapping sheets, labels or the like from a separate supply thereof at a speed which is a sub-multiple of the speed of the feeding means, vthe degree of the submultiple depending on the number of feeding devices, means being provided for subsequently accelerating the sheets, labels or the like to a speed equal to or bearing a predetermined relation to the speed of the feeding means.

This and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description having reference to the accompany drawings which are given by way of example and in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view, partly in section, of a packing machine for applying wrapping sheets to articles;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the machine of FIG. 1, some parts having been removed for clarity;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a detail of the machine of FIG. 1; l

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of another detail of the machine of FIG. l;

FIG. 5 is a sectional View along the -line V-V of FIG. l;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view along the line VI-VI of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a side View, in simplified diagrammatic form, corresponding to the side View of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic side view of a further packing machine for applying wrapping sheets to articles;

FIG. 9 is a .diagrammatic `sideview of a modiiied form of the packing machine of FIG. 8;

, FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic side view of a packing machine for applying labels to articles; and

FIG. 1l is a side view of a modified form of the packing machine of FIG. 10.

' The machine of FIGS. l to7comprises a frame 101 on which two beams 171 (see FIG. 5) are supported in parallel relationship. The beams 171 have guide channels 172 formed therein, in which the opposite ends 156 of each of a plurality of traverses 155 slidably engage. The traverses `155 each have two boss portions 15-7 by 3,210,911 Patented Oct. 12, 1965 ICC which the traverses are secured to two conveyor chains 154. A glide plate 54 is disposed above the beams 171 and each traverse 155 has a web portion 173 which extends through a slot 174 in the guide plate 54. The web portion of each traverse carries a pushing dog 55 and on movement of the conveyor chains 154 the pushing dogs 55 act to push articles 61 along the guide plate 54.

Pillars 102 :and 103 are provided Iabove the frame 101, and serve for supporting -two side walls `104 of the machine.

The machine comprises two fixed magazines 3, 4 in which stacks of cut wrapping sheets 1 and 2 are provided. Magazine 3 has side walls 112a which are mounted by brackets 117e on a bar 115er, which interconnects portions i135 of the side walls 104, and a rear wall 113a mounted by a bracket 119e on a block 11i8a carried by a bar 114e which is secured to the side walls 104 by brackets 116a. Magazine 4 has side walls 112 which are mounted by brackets 117 on a bar 115 which interconnects the portions 135 and a rear wall 113 mounted by a bracket 119 on a block 118 carried by a bar 114 which is secured to the side walls 104 by brackets 116.

Suction rollers 7 and 8 are respectively associated with the magazines 3, 4, the rollers 7 and 8 having sh-anks extending through slide blocks in the side walls 104 and being connected to a suction line 165. The rollers 7 and 8 are adapted to roll from the positions shown in broken lines, below an end region of the lowermost sheet in each respective stack to the positions 7', 8 shown in full lines. For this purpose, the suction roller Shanks are engaged by slides 109 and 109g which are sllidable in slideways deiined in the blocks 118 and 118g. The slides 109 and 1096: are reciprocable by levers 106 rotatably mounted on shafts 105 and 1050i, each lever having arms 108 and 108a which carry follower rollers 107 and 107a which are in engagement with cams 108 mounted on shafts 25 and 26.

During movement between the positions 7, S and 7', 8', the rollers 7 and 8 are rotated through 180 this rotation being effected by engagement of toothed wheels 175 provided on the Shanks of the rollers 7 and 8, with iixed racks 111 mounted on the magazines.

The rollers 7 and 8 engage the lowermost sheets of the magazines by suction and transfer the same to grippers 11, 12 of gripping cylinders 9, 10 lixedly mounted on the shafts 25 and 26. The grippers 11 and 12 are fixed on shafts 13 and 14 mounted in the gripping cylinders 9 and 10. Gripper 11 is operable at the appropriate angular position of the cylinder 9 by a lever 120a which has a follower roller 15 engaging a lixed cam 15801. Gripper 12 is operable in a similar manner by a lever 120 which has a follower roller 16 engaging a lixed cam 158. Springs 121 are provided which maintain the follower rollers 15 and 16 in contact with the cams 158a and 158.

The grippers 11 and 12 draw the engaged sheets out of the magazines, around the suction rollers 7 and 8 and deliver them to a guide table or guide path 60, supported 'by traverses 152 and 152a. In the region of the guide path, rollers 17 and 23 mounted on shafts 1S and 24 are provided, the rollers 17 and 23 cooperating as counterrollers with the` gripping cylinders 9 and 10. The sheets are then fed along the guide path 60, by thev rollers 23 and 17, respectively t-o intermediate transport roller pins 19, 21 and 27, 28 which are respectively mounted on shafts 20, 22, 29 and 30.

A further roller pair 31, 32 is provided in the guide path 60 the lower roller 31 thereof being keyed to a shaft 33 to which is also keyed an eccentric elliptical gear wheel 38 for driving the lower roller 31 at a non-uniform peripheral speed. The eccentric wheel 38 engages an eccentric elliptical driving wheel 37 mounted on a shaft 39.

The upper roller 32 of the roller pair 31, 32, is mounted on a shaft 34 and is movable into and out of a cooperative position relative to the roller 31 by levers 36 movable about a pivot shaft 35. The arrangement of the roller 32 is such that it does not bear against the roller 31 when the roller pair 27, 28 feeds a sheet. Only when the sheet has left the roller pair 27, 28 does the increase in speed of the roller 31 take place, at which time the upper roller 32 lies on the lower roller 31. As soon as the sheet has left the roller pair 27, 28 the rollers 31, 32 are accelerated to a peripheral speed equal to or even higher than twice that of the roller pairs 27, 30 and 19, 20.

From an inspection of FIGS. 1 and 7 it will easily be understood that when during rotation the eccentric wheels 37, 38 are in the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 7 the shaft 33 and therewith the wheel 31 are rotated at a low speed since at the point of contact between the eccentric wheels 37 and 38 the radius of the wheel 37 is small and the radius of the wheel 38 is large, so that the speed of the shaft 33 is lower than that of the driving shaft 39. When the wheels 37 and 38 have rotated through 180 then at the point of contact between the eccentric wheels 37 and 38 the radius of the wheel 37 is large and the radius of the wheel 38 is small, so that now the speed of the shaft 33 is higher than that of the driving shaft 39. Thus, when a sheet has left the wheels 27, 28, its speed of feed is increased by the wheels 31, 32 owing to the fact that the eccentric wheels 37, 38 have left the position illustrated in which the Wheel 31 is rotated with its lowest speed.

ABy means of guides 44 which are fixed to a traverse 45 extending between the side walls 184, and by means of cooperating rollers 40, 42 and 46 mounted on shafts 41, 43, and 47 the sheet, indicated by reference numeral 59, is guided, between guides 163 and 164 mounted on a traverse 161 secured to the side walls 104 by brackets 159, to a position S9b in engagement with a fixed abutment 58 mounted on the frame 101 by brackets 166 and a -bar 167, at the same instance as an article 61 to be packed is fed into contact with the sheet 59 by one of the pushing dogs 55. A pair of rollers 48 and 49, mounted on shafts 52 and 50 is provided between the pair of rollers 40 and 46 and the abutment 58. The roller 48 is mounted by an arm 139 for joint movement with a pivot shaft 53 into the position 48 shown in broken lines and is urged into its position 48 by a spring 145 anchored by a fixed pin 146. The shaft 53 carries a lever arm 138 which has followers sensing two cams 151 mounted on the shaft 41 and a lever arm 137 to which one end of an operating rod 136 is pivoted, the operating rod 136 being pivoted by its other end to one of the levers 36. The rollers 48 and 49 assist in guiding the sheet 59 to the abutment 58 and, by movement of the roller 48 into the position 48', release the sheet 59 on movement of the pushing dog 55 beyond the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, the pushing dog 55 thereupon pushing the article 61 beyond a slit 57 in the guide plate S4 into a space between the guide plate 54 and an auxiliary guide plate 56, causing the sheet 59 to be folded around the article 61 in a U-shaped for-m. The article 61 is then further handled in known manner.

An alternating feeding, along the guide path 60, of sheets from the two magazines 3 and 4 is effected, since the two gripper cylinders 9, are spaced from each other by a distance H (see FIG. 7) which is equal to half of the periphery of the gripper cylinders. The feed path for a sheet 2 from the magazine 4 is thus longer by the amount H than the feed path for a sheet 1 from the magazine 3. If the distance H were increased to 2H then the feeding devices for the sheets 1 and 2 respectively would need to operate in alternate working rhythms.

It will be appreciated that although the speed of feeding sheets to the abutment 58 is doubled, the speed of removing sheets 1, 2 from the magazines 3, 4 can remain within practicable limits. The acceleration of the sheets is effected between the rollers 31 and 32, the speed to which the sheets are accelerated being such that each sheet reaches the abutment 58 at the same time as a leading end of an article 61 reaches the plane of the sheet.

The various feed rollers and toothed wheels are driven with the desired correlated rotation from a common drive having a drive chain 122, the sequence of the drive being as follows:

The drive chain 122 drives a chain wheel 123 keyed to the shaft 26. A toothed wheel 176 keyed to the shaft 26 drives a toothed wheel 124 keyed to the shaft 24. Toothed wheel 124 meshes with an intermediate toothed wheel 128 mounted on a shaft 129, this meshing with a toothed wheel 177 keyed to the shaft 20. Toothed wheel 177 meshes with an intermediate toothed wheel 128a keyed to a shaft 129:1, toothed wheel 12811 meshing with a toothed wheel 178 keyed to shaft 18. Toothed wheel 178 meshes with an intermediate toothed wheel 128b mounted on a shaft 12911, this latter toothed wheel meshing with a toothed wheel 179 keyed to shaft 29. Toothed wheel 128k also meshes With a toothed wheel 147 keyed to a shaft on which a chain wheel 181 is keyed. Toothed wheel 147 meshes with a toothed wheel 148 keyed to the shaft 39 for driving the eccentric toothed wheel 37.

The chain wheel 181 is connected by a chain 131 to a chain wheel 182 keyed to shaft 42. A further chain wheel 183 is keyed to the shaft 42 and is connected by a chain 141 to a chain Wheel 184 keyed to a shaft 140. Shaft has keyed thereto a toothed wheel 142 which meshes with a toothed wheel 143 keyed to shaft 50, and thus drives roller 49.

Shafts 18, 22, 24, 30, 43 and 47 are mounted in the walls 104 yby known slide blocks which are spring loaded, so that the rollers carried by these shafts are resiliently urged into cooperation with their respective counter rollers.

By the provision of more magazines than one, the number of sheets reaching the feed rollers 27, 28 in a given unit of time is increased without increasing the speed at which the sheets are withdrawn from each magazine. The rollers 31, 32 increase the speed of each sheet so that it reaches the abutment 58 at a speed appropriate to the speed at which the articles 61 are fed by the pushing dogs 55 along the guide plate 54.

The packing machine of FIG. 8 has two abutments 58, and two feeding devices for alternately feeding sheets 1 and 2 from magazines 3, 4 to the abutments 58. The lines of feed from the respective feeding device are spaced by a `distance which is equal to twice the distance of separation of successive pushing dogs 55 which feed the articles 61 along a feed path between guide plates 54 and 56.

Each feeding device has a suction member 71 which is swingable about a pivot point 69 by a lever 70. The suction member 71 cooperates with a roller 73 lixedly journalled on a shaft 74 and a roller 68 which is swingable about a pivot point 67 by means of a lever 75 into the position 68'. Individual sheets are taken from each magazine by the respective suction member 71 and, by the swinging action of the suction member 71 and the roller 68 are fed between the rollers 68 and 73 and drawn from the magazine. The sheets then pass between rollers 63 and 66 which are mounted on shafts 64 and 65 respectively, the sheets being guided by a guide member 72. Roller 66 is driven by a wheel 76 which is mounted on a shaft 33 with an eccentric disc 38 engaged by an eccentric disc 37 mounted on a driving shaft 39. When the sheets pass between the rollers 63 and 66 these rollers have the same peripheral speed as the rollers 68 and 73. Roller 63 is movable into and out of a cooperative position with the roller 66 by movement about a pivot point 62 between a position illustrated in full lines and a position 63 illustrated in broken lines. When the roller 63 is urged towards the rollers 66, the roller 68 is mover out of cooperation with the roller 73 and the roller pair 63, 66 is given a speed equal to twice that of the roller pair 68, 73 by the action of the eccentric discs 37 and 38, so that the respective sheet assumes a speed equal to twice the speed at which it was removed from its magazine. A further pair of rollers 48, 49 is provided, the roller 48 being mounted for swinging about a pivot point 53 from a position 48 illustrated in broken lines to a position illustrated in full lines, in which it cooperates with the roller 49, which is keyed to a shaft 50. The roller 49 is driven by the shaft 50` at a peripheral speed equal to the accelerated speed of the sheets. The rollers 48 and 49 in each case feed the sheets through slots 57 in the guide plates 54 and 56 to the abutments 58, the sheets being thereupon engaged by the articles 61 fed by the pushing dogs 55 and on further movement of the articles 61 the sheets are folded around the articles in a U-shaped form.

The packing machine of FIG. 9 is simil-ar to that of FIG. 8, with the exception that the lines of feed from the respective feeding devices are spaced by a distance which is equal to the distance of separation of successive pushing dogs 55. Consequently, the feeding devices need to be operated simultaneously rather than lalternately as with the machine of FIG. 8, the feeding devices in each case feeding sheets to every second article 61.

The ymachine of FIG. 10 is suitable for applying labels, for example sealing labels or tax labels, onto articles such as cigarette packets. The machine comprises two feeding devices for respectively applying labels 77 and 78 from magazines 79, 80 to articles 76 fed along a guide plate 54 by equ-i-spaced pushing dogs 55.

The feeding devices comprise suction rollers 7 and 8 which are movable below the labels 77 and 78 from positions shown in full lines into positions 7 and 8 shown in broken lines and on making such a movement transfer in each case a label to grippers 11, 12 of gripping cylinders 9 and 10 mounted on shafts 25 and 26 which draw the labels 77 and 78 out of the magazines, around the suction rollers 7 and 8 and apply them to the articles 76. The gripping cylinders 9 and 10 are driven at non-uniform peripheral speeds by eccentric wheels 88 which are mounted on driving shafts 90 and 91 and keyed to shafts 25 and 26. During the rotation of the gripping cylinders 9 and 10 the labels 77 and 78 are passed under gumming rollers 85 which are rotatable on shafts 87, the gumming rollers 85 being supplied with gum from gum containers 86.

Each suction roller 7 and 8 operates at a feeding speed which is low enough for securing reliable removal of the labels 77 and 78 from the magazines. Owing to the nonuniform peripheral speeds o-f the gripping rollers 9 and 10 the labels after being engaged by the grippers 11, 12 are accelerated to twice the speed of removal from the magazines, this higher speed corresponding to the speed olf movement of the articles 76 along the guide plate 54 by the pushing dogs 55. The shafts 25 and 26 of the gripping rollers 9 and 10 are spaced from each other by a distance which is equal to twice the distance of separation of successive pushing dogs 55. Consequently, the two feeding devices need to operate alternately.

The machine of FIG. ll is similar toL that of FIG. 10, blut the shafts 25 and 26 of the gripping rollers 9 and 10 respectively are spaced from each other by a distance which is equal to the distance of separation of successive pushing dogs 55. Consequently, the two feeding devices need to operate simultaneously. |The gripping rollers 9 and 10 are therefore connected together by toothed wheels 81 and 82 for synchronous rotation, the gripping roller 10 being -driven by means of an eccentric wheel 83 engaged by an eccentric wheel 84 mounted on a driving shaft 91.

The term wrapping material as used herein is intended to cover wrapping sheets for application to articles, as well as labels, stickers or the like for Iadhesive application to articles.

It should be understood that many modifications, omissions and additions may be made to the specific embodimen-ts described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A packing machine comprising a feed path, means adapted to feed articles to be packed, in constant succession, along said feed path, a plurality of wrapping material magazines, a corresponding plurality of feeding devices constructed and adapted for removing wrapping material from said magazines and supplying the Same to 'articles fed along said feed path, and means constructed and adapted for accelerating said wrapping material after removal from said magazines.

2. A packing machine according to claim 1, and comprising a common guide path for wrapping material fed by said feeding devices, the accelerating means being provided in said common guide path.

3. A packing machine according to claim 1, comprising a roller forming part of said accelerating means, and means for driving said roller at a nonuniform peripheral speed.

4. A packing machine according to claim 3, and comprising two accelerating means, one for each feeding device.

5. A packing machine according to claim 4, wherein `said feeding devices comprise gripper cylinders constituting the rollers of said accelerating means.

6. A packing machine according to claim 3, comprising a counter-roller associated with said roller, means constructed and adapted for moving said counter-roller into and out of a cooperative position relative to the first .said roller in timed relation to the action of said feeding devices, a first pair of feeding rollers positioned in the line of feed before the first said roller and said counter-roller, means for operating said first pair of rollers at a feeding speed equal to the speed of removal of wrapping material from said magazines, a further pair of feeding rollers positioned in said line of feed after the first said roller and said counter-roller, end means for operating said further pair of rollers at a feeding speed equal to the feeding speed of said feeding means for said articles.

7. A packing machine Iaccording to claim 6, wherein said driving means are constructed and adapted for driving the first said roller at a non-uniform peripheral speed which varies from a speed below that of said first pair of feeding rollers to a speed Iabove that of said further pair of feeding rollers.

8. A packing machine according to claim 7, and comprising means controlling said roller moving means in such a manner that said counter-roller is moved into its cooperative position while the peripheral speed of the first -said roller is below that of said first pair of feeding rollers.

9. A packing machine comprising a feed path, means adapted to feed articles to be packed, in constant succession, along said feed path, a plurality of wrapping material magazines, a corresponding plurality of feeding devices constructed and adapted for removing wrapping material from said magazines and supplying the same to articles fed along said feed path, means constructed and adapted for accelerating said wrapping material after removal from said magazines, said accelerating means comprising a first roller, a first eccentric gear wheel rigidly connected with said first roller, a second eccentric gear wheel meshing with said first gear wheel, means constructed and adapted for rotating said second gear Wheel at a constant angular speed, said machine comprising a second roller arranged for cooperation with said first roller to feed wrapping material between said first and second rollers, means constructed and adapted for moving said second roller into and out of a cooperative position relative to said first roller in timed relation to the action of said `feeding devices, a first pair of feeding rollers positioned in the line of feed before said first and second rollers, means for operating said rst pair of rollers at a feeding speed equal to the speed of removal of wrapping material from said magazines, a further pair of rollers positioned in said line of feed after said first and second rollers, and means for operating said further pair of rollers at a feeding speed equal to the feeding speed of said feeding means for said articles.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/52 Fisher et al. 271-29 X 5/57 Frank et al 53-389 X 

1. A PACKING MACHINE COMPRISING A FEED PATH, MEANS ADAPTED TO FEED ARTICLES TO BE PACKED, IN CONSTANT SUCCESSION, ALONG SAID FEED PATH, A PLURALITY OF WRAPPING MATERIAL MAGAZINES, A CORRESPONDING PLURALITY OF FEEDING DEVICES CONSTRUCTED AND ADAPTED FOR REMOVING WRAPPING MATERIAL FROM SAID MAGAZINES AND SUPPLYING THE SAME TO ARTICLES FED ALONG SAID FEED PATH, AND MEANS CONSTRUCTED AND ADAPTED FOR ACCELERATING SAID WRAPPING MATERIAL AFTER REMOVAL FROM SAID MAGAZINES. 